COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The San Diego State softball team has been picked to win the Mountain West, while Mac Barbara (player) and Allie Light (pitcher) have been chosen as the league's preseason players of the year, the league announced Wednesday.
Barbara and Light were joined on the 15-player preseason team by fellow Aztecs Cali Decker and Bella Espinoza. This was the first time in MW history that preseason players of the year and a preseason all-conference team were announced.
The preseason poll, players of the year and all-conference team were voted on by the league's nine head coaches.
SDSU, which is ranked in three major preseason polls, including 24th in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, picked up 64 points, including eight of the nine first-place votes. Defending regular-season champion Boise State is second with 57 points and the other first-place vote, while Colorado State (46), Fresno State (41), Nevada (37), UNLV (28), Utah State (19), New Mexico (17) and San Jose State (15) round out the voting.
San Diego State finished the 2023 campaign with a 39-17 record, advancing to the program's first super regional after capturing the NCAA Los Angeles Regional, and being ranked No. 18 in the final ESPN/USA Softball poll and 19th in the final USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll. The Aztecs, who were one win away from making the Women's College World Series, won the Mountain West tournament, the first held since 2006, with a perfect 3-0 record after finishing second in regular-season play.
Barbara made her second straight MW first team last season after being named the MW Player of the Year in 2022. Barbara, who in just two seasons at SDSU ranks first in program history in on-base percentage (.481) and OPS percentage (1.221), second in slugging percentage (.740), third in batting average (.378), fifth in home runs (31), eighth in extra-base hits (56), tied for ninth in RBIs (106) and 10th in walks (67), batted .358 (57-for-159) a year ago with 13 home runs, 45 RBIs, 34 runs, nine doubles, a triple and 33 walks, while slugging .673 with a .469 on-base mark. Barbara, a two-time first-team All-NFCA West Region (2022-23) player, was even better in league play, hitting .459 (28-for-61) with eight home runs, 24 RBIs and 18 runs in 24 games, drawing 14 walks with a .902 slugging percentage and a .564 on-base percentage.
Light, meanwhile, was named the MW Pitcher of the Year in 2023, while also making her first all-conference team (first team) and first appearance on the all-NFCA West Region (second team). A four-time MW Pitcher of the Week, including three straight weeks from March 28-April 11, Light was 15-7 with a 1.90 ERA and a school-record seven saves in 132 2/3 innings. She started 17 games and played in 40 overall, playing a part in six Aztec shutouts, and striking out 106 with 20 walks, while limiting the opposition to a .218 average. Light was even better in MW play, going 7-1 with two saves and a 1.37 ERA across 61 1/3 innings, striking out 36 against 12 walks, while limiting the opposition to a .213 average.
Decker made the most of her first season on The Mesa in 2023, batting .368 (56-for-152) with six home runs, 40 RBIs, 29 runs, four doubles and 26 walks, posting a .513 slugging percentage and an .462 on-base mark en route to becoming a second-team NFCA all-West Region pick and a second-team all-MW selection. Decker hit .386 (22-for-57) in MW play with a home run, 14 RBIs, 15 runs and 12 walks, owning a .456 slugging percentage and a .493 on-base percentage. She was also named to the all-Mountain West Tournament team, batting a team-high .700 (7-for-10) with a home run, five RBIs and two runs. In nine postseason games overall (three in MW tournament, six in NCAA tournament), she hit .429 (12-for-28) with three homers, 13 RBIs and four runs, slugging .750 with a .467 on-base mark.
Espinoza made her second straight all-MW team a year ago (first team in 2022, second team in 2023), leading SDSU in batting average (.393), runs (57), hits (75), stolen bases (30) and at-bats (191). Espinoza's 70 singles were a SDSU single-season record, and she also ranked second in single-season history in stolen bases (30), third in runs (57), tied for third in hits (75) and eighth in batting average (.393). In MW play, Espinoza batted .352 (25-for-71) with 25 runs and 13 stolen bases and later made the all-MW Tournament Team after hitting .545 (6-for-11) with five runs and two stolen bases in just three games. She enters her third season ranked second all-time at San Diego State in batting average (.387), fifth in stolen base percentage (.865, min. 20 att., since 1983), tied for seventh in stolen bases (45) and eighth in on-base percentage (.422).
The Aztecs begin 2024 with the SDSU Season Kickoff from Thursday, Feb. 8-to-Sunday, Feb. 11 at SDSU Softball Stadium. The season-opening tournament looks more like the toughest NCAA regional, featuring No. 3 (in last year's final RPI) Stanford, No. 27 SDSU, No. 28 Minnesota and No. 29 Kentucky, along with UC Santa Barbara. The Aztecs kick off the season against Stanford on Thursday, before meeting Minnesota on Friday, and Kentucky and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.
2024 Mountain West Predicted Order of Finish
1. San Diego State (8) - 64
2. Boise State (1) - 57
3. Colorado State - 46
4. Fresno State - 41
5. Nevada - 37
6. UNLV - 28
7. Utah State - 19
8. New Mexico - 17
9. San Jose State - 15
* first-place votes in parenthesis
2024 All-Mountain West Preseason Awards
Player of the Year: Mac Barbara, Jr., UTIL, San Diego State
Pitcher of the Year: Allie Light, Sr., RHP, San Diego State
2024 Mountain West Preseason Team
Mac Barbara, Jr., UTIL, San Diego State
Cali Decker, Jr., UTIL, San Diego State
Bella Espinoza, Jr., OF, San Diego State
Allie Light, Sr., RHP, San Diego State
Taylor Caudill, Sr., RHP, Boise State
MyKenzie Hanna, Jr., OF, Boise State
Jordyn Hutchins, Sr., OF, Boise State
Hailey Smith, Sr., OF, Colorado State
Ashley York, Sr., OF, Colorado State
Taylor Gilmore, Sr., RHP, Fresno State
Keahilele Mattson, Sr., OF, Fresno State
Chelie Senini, Sr., OF, Nevada
Rachael Hathoot, Sr., INF, New Mexico
Ariana "Nana" Martinez, Jr., INF, UNLV
Maddie Schmidt, Sr., SS/OF, UNLV